Is Your Label Failing Compliance Testing? Here’s What to Do.
No one wants to deal with the headaches and potentially costly penalties of your product label being non-compliant with government, industry, or customer requirements.
Labels can be non-compliant for a number of reasons, including failures in label adhesion or failed resistance to conditions ranging from extreme temperatures or moisture to chemical exposure and abrasion.
Thankfully, there three easy ways to resolve label compliance testing failures.
Three Ways to Address Label Compliance Failure
- Work with your label vendor to find a solution, and make sure you’re working with a true expert in barcode labeling systems, supplies, and label compliance.
Many businesses make the mistake of buying generic labels from low-cost vendors who are merely resellers. These vendors carry basic labels and supplies for office use or for applications that don’t involve compliance requirements. They don’t have knowledge or experience in recommending and selling labels for other applications where compliance is critical.
Start by consulting with a label vendor that has extensive experience in label compliance. For example, our team at Tri-State Business Systems has over 20 years of experience in delivering barcode labels, supplies, and solutions to Fortune 500 companies and high-compliance industries such as pharmaceuticals, food production, and chemical manufacturing.
- Make sure you’re using the right label and materials for the job.
To ensure compliance, many labeling applications require specialized materials. When determining the right combination of materials and supplies, there are many options to consider, including thermal printers, ribbons, and label components such as the topcoat, facestock, adhesive, silicone lining, and release liner.
For example, direct thermal printing is fine for simple and shorter-term labeling and scanning applications, but direct thermal materials don’t offer much resistance to heat, light, abrasion, or chemicals. To address these challenges and ensure compliance when it comes to adhesion and durability, you may need to switch to thermal transfer printing and labels.
Thermal transfer uses ribbons to melt ink onto print media and produce durable, long-lasting images. Specialized thermal transfer labels also provide added protection against extremely high or low temperatures, UV and water exposure, chemicals, abrasion, scratching, and other types of damage.
You may also need different label materials and adhesives to deal with a variety of surface types or shapes, applicator uses, and print settings, such as different print speeds, darkness, and dots per inch (DPI).
- Make sure your vendor can deliver pre-tested and high-quality supplies with reliable quality controls to ensure labeling compliance.
At Tri-State, we recommend using Zebra labels and supplies exclusively. Zebra pre-tests all of its labels and supplies and uses consistent materials with absolutely no substitutions.
As an ISO 9001:2008 certified manufacturer, Zebra also has outstanding quality processes in place and puts all materials through stringent tests and analysis for verification of adhesive strength, assessment of printhead wear, and resistance to extreme environmental factors.
Zebra offers more than 1,000 combinations of labels, tags, receipts, wristbands, and ribbons, including more than 500 stock products. Its supplies include solutions designed specifically to meet a wide range of compliance requirements, including FDA, UL, IEC, CSA, automotive, military, and custom OEM specifications.
Zebra also offers guaranteed printhead protection. If you use Zebra printers and agree to use Zebra supplies exclusively, your printhead will be replaced at no cost if it ever needs to be replaced prematurely.
Taking the First Step with Tri-State Business Systems
To start solving your label compliance issues, contact our team at Tri-State. As a leading barcoding and labeling expert and a certified Zebra partner, we can help you quickly address label compliance failure and avoid costly penalties.
Call Tri-State Business Systems at 908-359-8001 or email us now.
